HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition 2024

HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition 2024

Congratulations to all contestants for their outstanding effort at the HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition 2024 – the world’s largest business case competition for undergraduates.

The final round of this year’s competition, which took place from 26 to 29 May, was held in-person for the first time since 2019.  Students from 24 prestigious universities in 19 different locations globally gathered in Hong Kong, showcasing their ideas and exploring the city’s vibrant culture and innovative spirit. 

The final case of the 4-day event featured GreenPrice, a successful grocery chain with a mission to reduce waste. Co-founded by two HKU Business School alumni from the class of 2019, GreenPrice showcases the ability of our youth to combine innovation and social responsibility. The contestants were inspired by the case company’s story and entrepreneurial spirit.

Speaking at the awards presentation ceremony, Dr Peter WONG, Chairman, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, and The Hongkong Bank Foundation, said, “As we get together in Hong Kong, we’d like students to draw inspiration from a city which is always experimenting, exploring, and defining its new identity. We all need to find relevance in a changing world. I strongly believe that when the participants graduate, they will bring fresh perspectives towards addressing the biggest challenges including the priority of sustainability, the impact of AI, and the importance of diversity and inclusion.  HSBC is proud to offer continuous support to the HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition since 2008, benefitting over 90,000 students.”

Over the years, more than 1,500 HSBC executives have volunteered as judges, exemplifying HSBC’s commitment in nurturing tomorrow’s business leaders and contributing to the global economy. 

Professor Hongbin CAI, Dean of HKU Business School, said, “HKU Business School and HSBC have joined forces to help nurture the next generation of leaders for Hong Kong and beyond in the last 17 years.  Now the HSBC/HKU Business Case Competition has evolved into the world’s largest business case competition for undergraduates and serves as a true measure of students’ multifaceted skills, challenging them to apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-life situations.  It was impressive to see the students demonstrate their entrepreneurial spirit and critical thinking by coming up with innovative solutions to tackle complex business problems, especially in emerging areas like ESG.  I believe this experience will be invaluable in shaping them into leaders who can create a sustainable future for our communities.”     

The Competition, organised by the Asia Case Research Centre, HKU Business School, aims to nurture future business leaders by sharpening their critical thinking and broadening their global perspectives.  It also bridges the gap between academic theories and real-world business practices, while actively promoting a culture of diversity and inclusion.

The 24 teams came from 19 different locations including Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, mainland China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macao, Malaysia, Mauritius, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, The Philippines, USA and Vietnam.

More about the competition: https://competition.acrc.hku.hk

 

Other Events
HKU Business School Releases a Comprehensive Evaluation Report on the Image-Generation Capabilities of AI Models
2025 | News
HKU Business School Releases a Comprehensive Evaluation Report on the Image-Generation Capabilities of AI Models
HKU Business School released a Comprehensive Evaluation Report on the Image Generation Capabilities of Artificial Intelligence Models, providing a systematic assessment of 15 text-to-image models and 7 multimodal large language models (LLMs). The results showed that ByteDance’s Dreamina and Doubao, as well as Baidu’s ERNIE Bot ranked among the top performers in terms of image content quality for new-image generation and image revision. However, despite DeepSeek having attracted global attention, its newly released text-to-image model, Janus-Pro, did not perform as well in new-image generation. HKU Business School researchers also found that while some text-to-image models excelled in content quality, their performance in safety and responsibility was significantly lacking. In general, multimodal LLMs demonstrated better overall performance compared to text-to-image models.
AI Image Generation Evaluation Results Released: ByteDance and Baidu Perform Well, DeepSeek Janus-Pro Falls Short
2025 | Research
AI Image Generation Evaluation Results Released: ByteDance and Baidu Perform Well, DeepSeek Janus-Pro Falls Short
The frontier of AI models has evolved beyond text processing to encompass the ability to understand and generate visual content. These models not only comprehend images but also generate visual content based on textual prompts. This study presents a systematic evaluation of the image generation capabilities of AI models, focusing on two core tasks: generating new images and revising existing images. Using carefully curated multidimensional test sets, we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of 22 AI models with image generation capabilities, including 15 text-to-image models and 7 multimodal large language models. The results show that ByteDance’s Dreamina and Doubao, as well as Baidu’s ERNIE Bot, demonstrate impressive performance in both new image generation and image revision tasks. Overall, multimodal large language models deliver superior performance compared to text-to-image models.